How The Marley Name Is Helping This Brand's Acquisition Strategy

A perfectly matched brand-celebrity partnership can be highly successful in terms of establishing instant credibility and building brand equity. It’s almost impossible to think about Nike without Michael Jordan instantly coming to mind. It’s relationships like this that increase a brand’s recognition and cause a measureable spike in sales and revenue.

With the cannabis industry booming, what is one celebrity name that instantly comes to mind? There is a good chance that the name “Bob Marley” just popped into your mind. The Jamaican singer-songwriter, musician and guitarist was an internationally known cannabis supporter.

Today, Bob Marley’s son, Damian, is the owner of Stony Hill Corp (STNY), a publicly traded company focused on multiple areas of the cannabis, hemp and cannabidiol industry. The Marley name has undoubtedly lent a hand to the company’s early success, which includes ownership in High Times, a cannabis brand that is close to going public as well. The company also has its own branded CBD (cannabidiol) line launching.

Its early success and diverse strategy — the company is focused on select investment, branding, real estate and partnership opportunities in the recreational, health and wellness, nutraceutical, and media categories — was aided by having the Marley name attached. The same success factors highlighted below apply to any brand-celebrity partnership.

Direct Partnership With The Celebrity

There are two ways to structure a brand-celebrity partnership. You can enter a licensing deal, where you pay the celebrity a flat-fee, percentage of sales or you give an equity position in exchange for their name and likeness. This type of relationship finds the celebrity hands-off — it’s just an additional income stream and nothing more.

The other, and more beneficial partnership is when the celebrity is an active founder of the brand. That is the case for Stony Hill Corp, as it’s primarily owned by Damian Marley. He is active in the day-to-day operations and he plays a major role in the direction of the company in terms of acquisition targets and partnership opportunities.

“We are able to leverage our Stony Hill brand because of Damian’s direct involvement. It’s much more authentic, and the consumer as well as our partners know this. We aren’t simply licensing a name for branding purposes. This has greatly helped our credibility and several deals came to fruition extremely fast including our investment in High Times,” explains Chris Bridges, President of Stony Hill Corp.

Values That Align With The Brand

It’s important in any partnership, whether it’s a celebrity or not, that the values of all involved are properly aligned. “In our case, it was a perfect match. Damian Marley shared the same vision, and we were all on the same page from day one. Everyone on our team has the same goal, which is to positively disrupt the cannabis industry across multiple categories,” says Stony Hill Corp’s President, Chris Bridges.

Successful brand-celebrity relationships involve the celebrity being directly involved because the brand fully values their involvement. The direct contact avoids managers, publicists, etc. If you do a licensing or spokesperson deal you will be sold by the representatives — it takes a real relationship to ensure that the values align correctly. This is the only way to ensure a successful venture.

Objectives Clearly Defined

There are several reasons that brands establish business relationships with celebrities. It elevates the brand’s visibility to a new level, drives sales and revenue, creates a stronger relationship between the brand and consumers and can be leveraged for new product launches or expansions into new markets.

“In our situation, Damian already understood the desired results and goals of the company, as he is an owner. He is extremely passionate about what we are doing as a company, and his name has helped us deliver a highly targeted message that has been well received,” says JJ Southard, VP of Products of Stony Hill Corp.

You can’t be too broad when it comes to a celebrity brand partner. In the case of Stony Hill Corp, their audience is cannabis-related, and there isn’t a more impactful name than ‘Damian Marley’ within the cannabis community. Very few celebrities are relevant in all industries — being too broad will greatly impact your reach and results.

Long-Term Goals

One of the valuable components of this relationship is the long-term partnership. With Damian Marley being an owner, it ensures that there isn’t a split or direction change two, three, five, etc. years down the line.

While Damian Marley might appear to be the face of the company, he is much more, as his involvement has played a key role in every acquisition and partnership to date, and will continue moving forward.